


Every Little Step

by astradanvers



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alura is still Kara's mom, Catstra, F/F, Kalex, Stripper AU, majorly judging you, pre-established catstra, pre-established kalex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-27
Updated: 2017-07-27
Packaged: 2018-12-07 12:56:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11623992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astradanvers/pseuds/astradanvers
Summary: Alex talked Lucy into taking a job two years ago. Lucy can't say she ever expected it to lead her here, loving said job and finding herself crushing on a patron of the club.





	Every Little Step

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Shadhavar1126 (Chimera428)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chimera428/gifts).



> So this monstrosity of a story was inspired by [ this video ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMNgbISmF4I) blame shadhavar1126 for this as she prompted me with said video and has been encouraging me every time this grew and grew and grew. So 36 pages later, welcome to the Majorly Judging You stripper au.

 

Lucy pulls the white fishnet stockings up her legs, shimmies the matching white miniskirt down just a bit so that the white lace g-string underneath peeks out just the slightest bit and then glances at herself in the mirror. She takes in the shiney top, how it hangs off one shoulder, exposing the thin strap of her bra and smiles, they're all gonna love her tonight. She tries not to think about what Lois would say. Their dad cut her off and she's gotta make it through school somehow, preferably without hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. When her friend Alex suggested stripping she'd balked at the idea at first but then she'd really thought about it.

The establishment Alex worked in was clean and the clientele was much more respectful, catering more to the ladies most nights than the men. Plus the place was owned and run by women, women who made sure the girls they hired were respected. So she'd decided to give it a shot and see how things went.

She's two and half years in, not a single loan to her name at present and she's found that she loves the stage. Alex had told her she would but Lucy had vehemently disagreed, she'd had to eat her words and cough up a hundred when she turned out to be wrong.

“Hey, Lane, you're up,” a voice calls from the side of the stage and Lucy smirks at herself in the mirror.

She moves to the side of the stage, hearing the dull drum of people talking out front, Alex skips past her, “We got a full house tonight, Baby Cakes,” she says with a chuckle.

“What’s my song tonight, Casey?” Lucy asks the woman at her side.

Casey smiles, “Your favorite, Baby Cakes, ‘Crazy.’”

Lucy smiles, “Perfect,” she mutters, with a victorious grin.

Before Casey can ask what she's thinking the dj and part time bouncer, James introduces her, “And now ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Baby Cakes!”

As the music starts to play and Lucy saunters onto the stage she feels just like she's where she belongs. Wrapping a hand around the pole she swings around in a slow circle, taking in her audience, smiling when she spots her target for the night. She always does it with this song, picks one person in the front row that she makes it all about.

Looking at the woman in the front row with the hat tilted down over her face she backs up to the pole, hands above her head before she pulls herself up, turning around it backwards. When she lowers herself back to the floor it's all the way down to her hands and knees where she crawls across the stage towards her lady in the suit and hat, she reaches out, tilts the hat down further and smiles a saucy smile when the woman takes it off to shake out long dark hair. The woman leans forward a bit and sets the hat on her head, a little smirk curling the corners of her lips.

Backing away Lucy dances her way over to the chair on the stage, lifting one foot to kick a white high heel across the stage before doing the same with the other. Meeting the eyes of one of their regulars, a computer geek with zero luck with women apart from the psycho who tried to kill the club manager, Lucy slowly works the fishnet on her right leg off her thigh and down her leg, tossing it at him with a smile. The second fishnet follows suit to a second regular before she stands once more, moving to the pole again to swing around it before dropping to her feet, sending the hat on her head flying like a frisbee to the bar, knowing Kara will get it back to its owner.

She shimmies her already small shirt up her torso with both hands before pulling it over her head and tossing it to Miss Tall-Dark-and-Gorgeous in the front row. Dancing around the stage, letting the music carry her until she's swinging round the pole again, this time higher than before she bends at the waist, her hands grasping the pole below her as she does a flip off it. She smirks at her lady and eases the zipper of her skirt down, as she does the woman waves a bill at her and she moves forward, just as she has with the others, the ones and fives stuck to her skin. When the woman slips a crisp, brand new twenty into the slightly exposed side of her g-string Lucy is sure she's got her.

Except when the dance ends, Lucy having moved on to dancing for some of her regulars who were usually fairly free with their money, the woman is already gone. As she slips backstage, clothes pressed close to her chest, she expects a summons to a private room but it never comes.

She's wiping her makeup away when Alex falls into the chair at her side, “Hey, Lex,” she says with a smile for her friend.

“Hey, Luce.” There's something on her friend’s mind, Lucy is positive but she's learned the hard way to just wait Alex out, she won't talk until she's ready. “So you're off tomorrow, right?”

“Yep,” Lucy says, popping the p.

“Wanna help me move?”

“You and K finally wising up and realizing that if you cohabitate instead of screwing each other's brains out in the private rooms you can be far louder?”

Alex shoves her slightly while Lucy laughs, “Not nice, Luce, but yes actually Kara and I are moving in together.”

“Good, I'll be there at 10.”

“Nine.”

“Nine-thirty at the earliest or you can move all your crap yourself.”

Sighing like it’s some hardship Alex nods, “Nine-thirty.” She stands, moving towards the door, “See you tomorrow, Baby Cakes.”

“See ya, Agent Angel,” Lucy says with a laugh.

MJY~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MJY

Climbing out of her car Lucy makes her way towards the club, the neon sign, off at this time of morning, makes her smile. Pink Kryptonite has been like a second home to her the past few years, she's still waiting for it to stop feeling like where she belongs. Like her real home did, long before her father looked her in the eye and said no child of his was gonna be some sex crazed freak. Lucy isn't sex crazed or a freak, only bisexual.

Lucy smiles as she enters the club, spotting Kara behind the bar, “Do you ever sleep, K?”

“I'm young, Luce, I can sleep when I'm dead.”

“In other words you abandoned me to do your dirty work by moving Alex into your place so you could hide out here.”

Kara bats her eyelashes, “Would I do that?”

“Only every chance you get,” a new voice says, a blonde woman a little taller than Lucy stepping out of the hall that leads to the back office and private rooms. “Go move your girl, Kar, Katie can handle the bar til Casey comes in tonight.”

“You sure, Aunt Cat?”

Cat glares at Kara, “What have I said about that around here?”

“Please the only people here are Snider,” the drunk at the end of the bar pops his head up, “go back to sleep, Snider,” he nods and drops his head back to the bar, “Katie and Lucy, no offense, Luce, but you're kinda like family so you don't count.”

Lucy laughs, “I'll take that as a compliment.”

Cat turns her attention from her niece to Lucy, “What are you doing here anyway, Lane? It's your day off.”

“It's also payday, Kit Kat, and I got bills to pay before I go help this one move her girl.”

“Oh right,” Cat says, “you lot actually do get paid more than tips.”

Laughing Lucy shakes her head, “Hardy har, Cat,” she gives the woman her patented puppy eyes, “my money please?”

“Put those things away, Lane, your check is in the office,” she turns to head back down the hall then glances to Kara, “you'd better be gone by the time I get back, Inze.”

Kara mock salutes the woman, “Of course, ma'am, right away.”

Cat tosses her pen at the younger woman, Kara catching it mid air, “Smartass,” she mutters before striding down the hall, clearly expecting Lucy to follow. She shuffles through the stack of checks she picks up from her desk, “Lane, Lane,” she mutters to herself, “ah, here ya go.”

Lucy smiles, “Thanks, Kit Kat,” she says before heading back out the door, pausing in the doorway once she opened the envelope in her hands. “Hey, Cat, I think you made a mistake.”

“I never make mistakes.”

“This check is for two hundred dollars more than I should have made.”

“That check is right, Lane, don't know why or how but it's correct, now get out of my office.”

Without saying another word Lucy leaves the woman’s office, still puzzling over the check in her hand, “Twenty-three hundred,” she mutters, “that’s twenty extra a night.” Shaking her head Lucy sighs, “Works for me.”

MJY~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MJY

Lucy flops down onto the couch beside Alex, “If I can't climb the pole tomorrow I'm gonna kill you,” she says. “How do you have so much crap?”

Alex shrugs, “I have no idea. I didn't even realize I did until I started packing. I was hardly ever home so it makes no sense.”

“Your mom has been secreting things into your apartment for years without your knowledge,” Kara says, piece of pizza in one hand and two plates carrying pizza balanced it the other. She passes one to Lucy and then holds Alex’s just out of reach until she's able to steal a kiss from the brunette.

“The two of you are so sickening,” Lucy says with a laugh.

“Just wait, Lane,” Alex says, “one day it'll be you.” Kara slips into the small space between Alex and the couch, “You do know we have other furniture, right?”

“Don't care, happy here,” Kara says wrapping around Alex as the other woman eats.

“Definitely sickening.”

Shaking her head Alex looks at her friend, “So when are you going out with James again?”

“I'm not,” Lucy says after a bite of pizza. “Misogynistic pig can go jump off a bridge.”

“What happened?”

“He wanted me to quit,” Lucy says with a shrug, “even though I explained why I'm working, he wanted me to quit because he didn't want other men and especially women ogling me.”

Kara chuckles, “It's actually a little bit of a confidence boost,” she says, “knowing that Alex could have anyone that shows up to watch her dance every night but she's choosing to come home with me, to come home to me.”

“And I'm always going to,” Alex tells her quietly.

Lucy chuckles, “Okay, I'm leaving. You two can get your freak on in your new place while I take the pizza with me.”

“Bye, Lucy,” Kara calls distractedly as Alex presses kisses along her neck, “lock the door.”

Shaking her head as she steps into the hallway Lucy tries to pretend she doesn't want what her friends have. “Alright, pizza face,” she says to the box in her hands, “let's go home.”

MJY~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MJY

Lucy’s just finishing her last dance of the night when she spots a familiar face in the back corner. She’s wearing the same hat though and it's a dead give away, Lucy’s nearly positive she planned for it to be. Slipping into the back Lucy makes a split second decision. She slips into her hot pink tube top and the black mini skirt all the waitresses for the club wear and then slips out and makes her way to the bar.

“Luce, you double shift tonight?”

“Yeah,” Lucy says, cause she was supposed to be anyway. “I'm taking the back,” she tells Kara, motioning vaguely in the general direction of Miss Tall-Dark-and-Gorgeous’s table, she really needs to get a name from the woman.

“Sure, Baby Cakes,” Lucy smiles, as used to answering to her stage name as her own. Kara slides a glass of high dollar bourbon into her hand, Cat’s special label if Lucy isn't mistaken, “Back corner, no charge,” she says.

Lucy nods and saunters towards the table, single glass of bourbon in a place of honor at the center of the tray balanced on her hand. She spins around two men about to cause a scene without spilling a single drop of amber liquid and nods to them after catching Hank’s eye. Painting on a genuine smile she looks to the woman at the table, “Hi, I'm Lucy, I'll be your server.”

The woman looks at her then and smiles, slow and easy, “I thought your name was Baby Cakes,” she says, tilting her head slightly.

“When I'm on the stage definitely, out here I'm just Lucy.” She smiles, leaning down to finger the edge of the woman’s hat, “Got a name to go with the long dark locks and gorgeous blue eyes?”

The woman hums low in her throat, “How about for now you call me Blue?” She runs her finger lightly from Lucy’s elbow to wrist, “Perhaps soon you'll learn my true name, just Lucy.”

Lucy smiles, more than used to their clientele being overly cautious, “Very well, Blue it shall be.”

“Hey, Baby Cakes!” a voice calls from one of the other tables, “Can I get my usual?”

Smiling Lucy draws her arm away, “Seems I’m needed elsewhere,” she says quietly, “should you have need of me just call, Blue.”

The other woman nods, takes a sip of her bourbon and leans back in the booth. As Lucy moves through the crowd she's feels eyes following her, near constantly and every time she glances round it's to find Blue watching her, a small little smile twisting her lips. Lucy’s just about to head back to the corner when she finds that Blue has disappeared, nothing left behind but an empty glass with her hat resting on top.

As she picks the hat up and places it on her head she smiles. Lifting up the glass she heads for the bar, “Hey,” Kara says sliding up across from her, “lady that was in the back corner,” she nods to Blue’s corner, “the one whose hat you have, she said to give you this.” Sliding two folded twenties across the bar Kara smiles, “Said she'd have rather given them to you like last time but all the tables near the stage were full when she got here tonight.”

Lucy fingers the bills gently, thumb brushing over the edge, “She say anything else?”

Kara shakes her head but Lucy feels like there’s something her friend isn’t saying. “Nah,” she glances around the club, “you wanna head out, you’ve already been here longer than anyone else?”

“Sure,” Lucy says with a shrug, she knows they’ve been pretty slow for the night but she hadn’t really been too bothered by it until Blue left. She sighs as she makes her way to the back so she can grab her stuff, “See you tomorrow, Agent,” she says to Alex as she leans over the other woman’s shoulder to see both of them in the mirror. “Have a good show.”

“You have class in the morning, right?”

“If you consider noon the morning,” Lucy says, knowing full well that they both do after long nights at the club.

Alex nods, “Then I’ll see you around eight tomorrow night.”

Smiling Lucy leans over her shoulder once more, pressing a kiss to Alex’s cheek, “Love ya, Agent Angel.”

“Love you too, Baby Cakes, stay out of trouble.”

MJY~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MJY

A week passes without Lucy seeing Blue again. Her paycheck for the previous week is still two hundred dollars more than it should be and Cat still assures her that it’s correct. It’s a Wednesday night when she comes in and Kara glances at her before she makes it in the door alright. “Hey, Luce, you mind dancing tonight?”

Moving over to the bar Lucy leans on it with a smile, “How many?”

“Just the one, we’re down a dancer but we’ve got enough waitresses for you to cover at least one dance.”

“Sure, who’s out?”

Kara rubs the back of her neck, “Alex, she’s got some kind of virus or something.”

Lucy squeezes her arm, “Tell her I hope she feels better.” She saunters towards the backstage area, “And yeah, I’ll cover her dance. I’m going first though so fix the lineup.”

Nodding Kara moves over to where the lineup for the night is and Lucy watches her scribbling on it all the while pulling her phone from her pocket, Lucy assumes to check in on Alex. Slipping backstage Lucy moves over to her station, fingers trailing lightly over her rack of clothes. She brushes her fingers over the black lace mini skirt Alex talked her into buying a few weeks ago and nods, slipping it off the rack. The sound of the other girls shuffling in barely registers to Lucy after so many nights just like this one. She smiles when she slips the front tie plaid shirt off the rack, she’ll pair the outfit with black four inch heels and be all set.

Without thought to the other girls she barely notices milling about, Lucy pulls her shirt over her head, slipping her bra off her shoulders before lifting up the plaid button up and slipping it on. She buttons a single button just below her breasts and ties a loose knot in the two sides. Shuffling her jeans down her legs leaves her standing in the open backstage area in her micro thong and shirt but nothing else, having abandoned her flats to get out of her jeans. Lifting the sheer lace mini skirt up she gives herself a small nod of approval before she pulls it up over her hips, zipping the small, hidden zipper easily.

Just as she slips into her four inch heels Casey zips past her, “You’re up in five with ‘Closer.’”

Smiling Lucy makes her way towards the curtain, she’d forgotten she’d chosen that song for the next time she danced, she shrugs, “She won’t show tonight anyway,” she mutters, thoughts barely skimming over Blue before she lets herself slip into her dance space.

She struts down the stage as the music starts up, wrapping her right hand around the pole and rolling her hands to the beat as she turns to face it. She brings her foot up, grabbing hold of one heel before tossing it away, kicking the other off as she brings the other up and turns, left hand rising to grasp the pole above her head as her foot touches her leg. Pushing up onto her toes and thrusting her hips in time to the beat, she hangs her head back, turning to look out at the crowd as her free hand works to loosen the tie of her shirt.

Bowing her back she pushes herself away from the pole, grasping it with both hands and hoisting herself into the air, one leg wrapping around the pole as she spins around it, the button on her shirt undone so it flutters but doesn’t reveal near as much as the crowd is cheering for. Another spin around the pole and lowering herself to the ground has her staring at the end of the stage and a victorious smile curls her lips when she sees who’s sitting in the front row. As she rises once more, circling to roll her body against the pole without touching it, she meets Blue’s eyes.

She lifts herself into the air again, spinning around the pole, legs held straight before she pulls them up, one curling around the pole while the other curves back towards her head as she spins before lowering herself to the floor once more. She glances over to be sure she alone has Blue’s attention and smirks when she finds she truly does. Back pressed against the pole, she slips the zipper of her skirt down and rolls her hips in circles before slipping it down her legs and tossing it directly at Blue, hitting her in the face.

She circles the pole once, jumping up so that she can wrap her legs around it, one hand grasping it. Spinning round a few times before she flips, spinning for a moment befor one knee crooks around the pole. She spins there for long moments, head thrown back so that she can watch as Blue watches her. Slowly she stretches both legs out, doing a split while suspended in the air, before dropping a little lower, one leg crooking back around the pole to support her. With gentle ease she rights herself and lowers herself back to the stage, shirt hanging open as the music draws to a close.

The crowd cheers as she makes her way backstage, knowing full well that the money on the stage will be collected for her. “That’s was the best I’ve seen you do in a while, Baby Cakes,” Casey says as Lucy steps backstage.

Lucy smiles, “Had the right motivation I guess, Case.” She grins at the other woman and heads for her station, “Gotta get changed and out on the floor. I’ll see you later.”

Casey just nods, already moving on to getting the next girl ready to go onstage.

At her station she trades her plaid shirt for her pink tube top and pulls her black mini skirt up with a smile, remembering the look on Blue’s face when the lace one had hit her. She smirks at herself in the mirror, touching up her makeup a bit before she makes her way out of the back. Out on the floor she looks around, unsurprised to find that Blue has moved from her front row seat to her back corner booth.

Stopping at the bar Lucy smiles when Kara slides a glass of bourbon her way, “She requested you bring it to her,” she says nodding in Blue’s direction.

Lucy smiles, “I can do that.” As she makes her way across the club, she's finds that Blue’s eyes track her every move. She draws to a halt before the table, blue eyes coming up to meet her own, “I hear you requested a special delivery.”

Blue smirks up at her, “Perhaps,” she motions to the chair across from her, “please, sit.” The younger woman glances to the bar, they really aren't supposed to just sit and talk with customers, “Do not worry,” Blue says, “I would not put your job in jeopardy, I promise.”

For some reason Lucy believes her and slides easily into the chair across from her, “So what brings a pretty lady like you to a place like this?”

The older woman tilts her head, “Has that line actually worked for you in the past?”

Chuckling Lucy shakes head head, “Not a line,” she says sincerely, “I'm generally interested in why you're hanging around a place like this.”

“You work in a place like this, is there something wrong with hanging around one?”

“Not at all,” Lucy says, “but a gorgeous woman such as yourself should not be alone.”

Blue smiles, “You are very kind.”

“And very honest.” Glancing at the floor Lucy notes they’re getting busier, “I should,” she motions to the floor.

“Of course,” Blue says with a smile. “But first,” she glances to the bar as if nervous and then back to Lucy, “Lucy would you be willing to go on a date with me?”

A large smile spreads over Lucy’s features, “I would love too,” she tilts her head, “do I get to know your name first though?”

The woman stands, “Meet me at this address,” she slides a slip of paper to Lucy, “tomorrow night at six and you just might.”

As Blue walks away Lucy just watches her for several long moments before shaking her head and standing up, lifting Blue’s left behind tumbler from the table and turning just in time to see Blue lean over the bar and press a kiss against Kara’s cheek. The younger woman laughs and says something to the older who laughs as well before Blue slips out of the club and Kara returns to her customers. Lucy isn't sure what to feel as the happy sensation in her chest drains away slightly.

MJY~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MJY

Lucy wakes up at nine, it’s unusual when she’s worked until two the night before but not unheard of, especially when there are things weighing on her mind. She knows that she hasn’t seen Blue but once but something had clicked when she’d seen the other woman that first time, when they’d talked the night before. Lucy hasn’t felt that in a long time. And then to watch Blue walk straight across the room and kiss someone else with such carelessness, like it was an everyday occurrence bothered her. Probably more than it should but she couldn’t stop herself from feeling like something good had been yanked out from under her before she’d really had it.

She slips out from under the covers after watching the sky out of her bedroom window for a while. Padding towards the kitchen she can’t help continuing to think. Grabbing her phone off of the dresser she continues on out of the room. Pressing the home button she sighs when she sees a message from Alex, a missed call from her mother, several new facebook notifications and a whole slew of new emails.

The emails are the easiest to tackle, two from her lab partner begging for the answers to the lab report she didn't do….again, a third from her lit professor about the extension he's given for their papers (well that was four hours wasted that she could have spent napping yesterday), a fourth from her writing professor the subject reads only: Submit This ASAP (it's about her last short story that he wants her to submit to the lit mag, she keeps refusing), the fifth is shipment notice on a book she preordered from Amazon (she maybe does a small dance about that), and the other five are all junk emails that she groups together and hits delete on.

The two Facebook notifications actually turn out even easier. A simple notification that one of the girls she went to school with posted new pictures, of her newborn, who was fathered by the loser Lucy dated in high school. Lucy figures she was tagged and then untagged to have the notification appear. She feels sorry for the kid and her former friend, her ex was a low down loser. The second she simply ignores, a happy notification telling her that Lois’ birthday is today. She glances at the calendar.

“Damn it's actually right,” she mutters. Too bad Lois doesn't care to hear from her.

Then she opens the message from Alex.

_ “I _ _ know you're getting ready for your hot date. Give yourself a chance this time, Luce. You do deserve to be happy _ _.” _

Her first thought is to wonder how Alex even knows she has a date but then she remembers a vague comment to Susan, one of the other dancers, and figures she informed their friend. Shrugging she just closes the message box, too jittery over any thought of the date to consider a response, much less what'd she say about what she'd seen the night before.

A low sigh slips past her lips, her Mami calls her every time her father goes away for business. He takes one to two trips a month, for two to three days. Mami usually calls on the start of the first day. She glances at her voicemail notification and sighs, “Of course she left a voicemail.”

With a trembling finger she opens it up and pushes play, “Hola, mija,” her mother’s voice is lilting over the Spanish she's spoken all her life. “How are you, Lucinda?” She does hate that her mother uses her full name, “Are you still working for that awful place. I miss you, mija, please just come home. Your father doesn't mean the things he says. You know he doesn't. I love you, mija. Goodbye.”

Shaking her head as she sets the phone aside in favor of replacing it with the coffee pot and a mug, Lucy thinks about her family. She had come to Metropolis barely a gleam her mother’s eye but a solid kick to the gut for Lois’ mother. Because Mama June, who loved Lucy as much as her own mother and likely more than her father, had still been married to Major Samuel Lane when he brought the woman he'd met and gotten pregnant while he was away home with him. It hadn't taken long for her to take Lois and leave. Lucy hadn't met her sister or her sister’s mother until she was three.

Moving away from the kitchen counter Lucy heads out onto the fire escape, settling onto the metal steps, the cold of it seeping through her sleep pants as she sips at her coffee. Looking out over the small portion of National City she can see from her home she lets herself drift for a little while longer, thoughts of her family distracting enough to keep her mind off what’s really bothering her. She thinks back on how Lois was like her mother, always making excuses for their father, always saying how he didn’t mean the things he said. Until suddenly Lois was singing a different tune because of her boy toy, Clark.

Lucy shakes her head at the thought of her brother-in-law, she loves him but she’s not sure she’ll ever really understand what her sister saw in him. Lois had taken a step away from Lucy at the same time she took a step away from their father and Lucy hadn’t really talked to her since. Lois had been twenty to Lucy’s fifteen. But Mama June still calls her, every Sunday at precisely nine am and Lucy is always there to answer. She knows, of course, that right after Mama June hangs up with her at ten, she calls Lois, Lucy likes to pretend that Lois asks about her every Sunday just like Lucy asks about Lois.

Somehow all the thoughts of her family bring her back to what she’s been avoiding: THE KISS. The kiss that Blue gave to Kara. She knows, without a doubt that Kara wouldn’t hurt her. Kara and Alex are her best friends, they know what she’s been through and how much she’s hurt in the past, just like she knows how they’ve hurt before. So Kara wouldn’t hurt her but something about that kiss last night. It was too familiar, to easy. It wasn’t the way Lucy would kiss a lover per se but at the same time she has done so before. She shakes her head, unsure of what to do.

With the hand not clutching her coffee she reaches into her pajama pants pocket and extracts the folded napkin, staring at the clear and concise writing on the white surface. “I don’t know,” she mutters to herself. If she shows up at the address she can probably get the answers she needs, the problem is she isn’t sure they’ll be the answers she wants. Because as loathe as she is to admit it, every song Lucy has danced to has been with a thought of Blue in her mind, since the moment she first saw her. And after talking to her the day before Lucy had felt like it could possibly even be more if given the chance. She thought this had been the chance, now she’s not so sure.

“Just go,” she tells herself in a firm demanding voice. “Go to the address, whatever happens after will happen.” After long moments she nods to herself then sighs, “Now I just have to decide what to wear.”

MJY~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MJY

In the end Lucy spends all afternoon sifting through her closet, several times. It's early October and the days are still warm, even if the nights turn chilly, so she finally decides that layers are probably her best option. The thing of it is, she doesn't know what they're doing, where they're going. All she's got is an address and a time on a folded up napkin.

So she pulls out the brand new pair of jeans she bought with the extra money from her last paycheck. They're designer but still not top end but she'd been eyeing them for weeks and with all her bills paid and groceries purchased and gas in her car she could still afford them so she bought them. Those will be perfect, just the right combination of class and sass, she smirks, it might help that they make her ass look great and could pass for a second skin.

She looks through her shirts for the third, or is it fourth, time and finally pulls out a dark brown sweater, it's a little big and usually slides off one shoulder but it passes for casual or dressy. Moving to her dresser she opens one of the draws and pulls out a spaghetti strap black tank top, it'll be perfect to go under her sweater. “Shoes,” she mutters to herself and walks towards her shoe  rack. One thing about Lucy is that on her days off she likes to be kind to her feet because dancing in four inch heels is far from kind to her feet. For that reason she forgoes the heels and pulls out her favorite pair of sandals, they're brown with a jewel design on top of her foot.

Her outfit selected and ideas already in mind for the little makeup she’ll apply before she leaves Lucy glances around her apartment, hoping for a distraction from her nerves. When nothing comes she decides to just go ahead and start getting ready, she's only got an hour and a half before she has to be there anyway.

MJY~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MJY

She pulls into a spot in the parking lot of the address she was given. The first thing Lucy notes is that she's in the parking lot of a bookstore, the second thing, and the one that rests uneasily in her chest, is that it's the bookstore Kara speaks of constantly. Tattered Twin Books is small, privately owned and according to Kara holds the best selection of any genre of book you can think of as well as boasting a policy of being able to obtain any book not carried in store. This is the place Kara met Alex, and Lucy’s date had given her this address as the meeting place for their date. The anxiety in the pit of her stomach has grown to exponential proportions.

It's that moment when Blue pulls into the lot, Lucy watches her step out of the car with an ease the younger woman rarely exhibits herself if not on the stage. Lucy is leaning against the hood of her car, lips set into a thin line. Blue’s eyes travel over Lucy’s form, sending a shiver along the younger woman’s spine. Approaching slowly, Lucy knows that Blue realizes something is off about the whole situation, especially Lucy’s stance, her defensive stance.

“Lucy?” Blue asks quietly, her voice betraying the single word as a question.

Lucy’s arms are crossed over her chest, protecting herself, “I saw something last night,” she starts because she's never been one to back away from a situation, “and I need to know what I really saw because I swear I don't want it to be what I'm thinking it is.”

Blue tilts her head and, not for the first time, Lucy feels like the other woman is seeing right through her every defense. “What was it that you saw?” Something inside of Lucy says the other woman already knows.

“You kissed Kara,” Lucy says simply and she deflates from her built up bravado a bit. “And I need to know if this is a joke to you,” she looks away, “I need to know if I'm the only one feeling a connection that shouldn't be there after you watching me dance a few times and one night of chatter. Because if this is a game or a fluke or whatever then I'll be getting back in my car and leaving right now.”

The older woman watches Lucy for a few long moments and then gives a single nod, holds out a hand, “Come inside with me,” she says quietly, “trust me just this once and I promise you'll see that you aren't the only one feeling things you aren't used to.”

Looking at the hand held out to her, Lucy thinks over what she really wants, how she wants this night to go. Finally she reaches out, sliding her hand into Blue’s, surprised when the other woman laces their fingers together and they seem to fit in a way Lucy’s never have with anyone before.

With a single nod Blue leads them towards the bookstore, entering through a side entrance. Inside one of the girls behind the counter looks up with a small wave instead of words. Blue waves back then nods to the back of the store, pulling Lucy along behind her. “Where are we going?” Lucy finally asks.

“Just a moment more,” Blue says quietly, “and you'll see.” They end up in the back corner of the store where the children’s section is, the wooden letters across the top of the door proclaim it  _ Kara’s Corner _ .

“Once upon a time,” Blue says, “this store didn't have a children’s section. But then I met a man while I was dancing at my sister’s club and we were together, I loved him. He didn't love me or the daughter that I had, once he was gone. This is her corner, the place where she spent her afternoons, the place where she met the woman she loves.” She looks at Lucy then, “The reason I so freely give affection to Kara, Lucy, is because she's my daughter.”

“Kara’s -” Lucy murmurs, “Kara’s mother.”

“Yes,” Blue says simply.

Slowly a smile creeps across Lucy’s face, “Well that explains how Alex knew about my date.”

“Yes, umm,” a blush creeps across the older woman’s cheeks, “I know you are Kara’s friend, and Alexandra’s, I wouldn't, couldn't, have asked you out if they had disapproved.”

Lucy’s smile grows, “The fact that you worried about them having a problem makes this all the more special,” she says quietly, hoping that her sincerity can be heard in her words. She tilts her head, “Since we've gotten to this part will you tell me your name now,” she says quietly, “properly.”

Blue smiles, extends her hand, “Hello, my name is Alura Inze and if you're amenable, I’d very much like to take you on a proper date now.”

Sliding her hand into Alura’s grasping the soft hand with her own, the feel of Alura’s soft skin against hers Lucy nods, “It's wonderful to meet you, Alura, I'm Lucy Lane.” She smiles, “And I would very much like to go on a date with you.”

MJY~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MJY

Lucy smiles, fingers fidgeting against the door handle in the passenger side of Alura’s Nx Hybrid, “Alura, can I please take this thing off?”

“No you may not,” Alura says simply, her hand sliding over to Lucy’s thigh from the gearshift. “Just sit tight, Luce,” she says quietly, somehow having adopted the nickname in the hour they’ve been driving, Lucy isn’t sure how. She’s also unsure of why she’s so comfortable with the hand resting on her thigh.

“But, Alura,” the younger woman nearly whines.

“Oh hush, you,” Alura says around a chuckle, “we’re nearly there and I promise you’ll love this.”

A laugh slips past Lucy’s lips, positive that the other woman is correct in her assessment even without knowing where they’re going. “Well at least tell me something about yourself while we’re driving.”

Alura smiles, her eyes focused on the road before her, hand slides up to grasp Lucy’s instead of remaining in its original resting spot, “How about I tell you how Tattered Twin Books and Pink Kryptonite came to be?”

“I’d like that,” Lucy says, leaning back into the black leather seat surrounding her, her fingers tangled with Alura’s upon the gearshift.

“My father,” Alura says quietly, “was a rich man, a well to do businessman. He started his own business, several of them in fact, and prospered greatly. When my twin sister and I graduated high school our father approached us. He set us down in his home office on the night of our graduation and laid a proposal before the two of us. We could attend college in the fall, both of us had already been accepted to prestigious schools, Astra to Stanford and I to Harvard for law. Or the two of us could choose a business, one established or one to begin ourselves, and my father would provide for our first year’s finances. We could choose to open a business together or apart.”

She glances to Lucy as she stops at a red light, “Astra and I spent nearly a month in discussion and debate of what we should do. In the end we decided on businesses of our own. Tattered Twin, then a much smaller shop known as the Book Nook, was my choice. I wanted a place where those who loved books felt welcome and safe, a place where if you were reading the first book in a series at three in the morning you could run out and pick up the second if you just had to start reading it then. So my father bought it, I changed the name to Tattered Twin Books and found a staff willing to work shifts to cover a full twenty-four hours. Astra,” she snorts, “my dear sister, chose a club. Nothing surprising in that honestly, she was always the more outgoing of us, the more troublesome as well.”

“She’s married to Cat, I don’t see it.”

Alura laughs then, “Yes, Chessie very much made my sister more mature, especially after their son was born. But you must consider that they met in the very club that you and I did while Cat was the one on the stage and Astra was in the audience.”

“Cat used to dance?”

“Why do you think she takes such good care of you girls, Tiger Lily?” Lucy tilts her head at the sound of the nickname, “I’m sorry,” Alura says quietly, “I tend to give those I care about nicknames, as Star-er, Astra, does.”

Smiling Lucy shakes her head, “I like it,” she says quietly. “I had never really thought of why Cat was so protective of us, it’s always just been how Cat is.”

“Because my sister cared for the girls the same when Cat was the one dancing. Astra ran the club well but she was, is, a shameless flirt. When she and Cat started dating there was a bit of an upheaval over it all because so many of the girls at that time thought Astra had eyes only for them. Most of them quit. So it was that with most of the girls gone Astra and I, I was dancing at the club about three nights a week then, decided to make Cat the club’s manager, she deserved a promotion anyway. Astra started working in the bookstore several nights a week and I was still dancing in case Cat needed help. Except that’s where I met Kara’s father, where I fell in love with him. When he left, I was left behind with a broken heart and a daughter to protect. Between myself, Astra and Cat, we managed.”

“Your daughter is an amazing person, Alura,” Lucy says quietly, “I’m sure that is all thanks to you.” She squeezes Alura’s hand, “Because you’re a little amazing yourself from all the things that Kara has told me about you.”

Alura smiles as she shifts the car into park, leaning over to place a gentle kiss against Lucy’s cheek, right at the corner of her lips, “Hold off on that judgement until you see what I’ve planned for our date.”

“I can take the blindfold off?”

“Not yet,” Alura says with a fond chuckle before she slips out of the car, the sound of screams of laughter drawing Lucy’s attention before the sounds end once more with the slamming of the car door. Before she can consider removing her blindfold her door is opened.

“No peeking, Tiger Lily,” she murmurs. Reaching out she takes Lucy’s hand into her own once more, “Careful,” she says as Lucy slips from the car, “now turn,” Lucy can hear the smile in the older woman’s voice, “right there,” she says, “now you can take the blindfold off.”

Reaching up Lucy draws the blindfold away from her eyes, assaulted by the sights and sounds around her in a way she hadn’t been when Alura’s hand had slipped into her own as she drew her out of the car. The ferris wheel rises up behind the gates of the fair and Lucy laughs, turning to look at Alura, “You brought me to the fair?”

Smiling, fingers idly toying with Lucy’s hair, “I may have picked your best friend’s brain about the best ideas for dates.”

“Brains and beauty,” Lucy says quietly, looking up at Alura, “a deadly combination.” She leans up, giving Alura all the time to pull away before their lips meet. This kiss is chaste as far as kisses go, a gentle press of lips brushing against lips. Alura leans down closer, the pressure of the kiss growing, becoming more than just the soft meeting of lips.

When they finally break away from one another, both a little breathless Alura smiles down at Lucy, “Oh a deadly combination indeed,” she murmurs. Then with a laugh she pulls from Alura’s embrace and skips away from her, “Come on, Inze, you brought me to the fair now we get to see how much a daredevil you are.”

Alura shuts the door with a bump of her hip and then chases after Lucy as the younger woman takes off at a run, “I’ll show you daredevil, Lane,” she says with a laugh, grabbing Lucy around the waist and spinning them so that they’re nearly nose to nose.

“Tiger Lily,” she whispers, brushing Lucy’s hair from her eyes, she smirks, “it suits you,” she leans down then, drawing Lucy into a much more proper kiss than their earlier one, letting her tongue brush across Lucy’s bottom lip but pulling back before Lucy’s can meet hers in a battle she knows she’ll gladly lose.

“What do they mean?” Lucy asks, forehead pressed to Alura’s as they regain an even breathing pattern.

A smirk is her response, “Look it up,” Alura says simply before taking Lucy’s hand and pulling her along to the queue for tickets.

MJY~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MJY

The two of them spent the whole evening chasing each other across the fairgrounds. First the rollercoaster, where they'd laughed and screamed and loved every minute of it. The giant twirling swing, Lucy could never remember the name of it, was next on their list of rides. And they'd worked their way through all of the rides and back around to the roller coaster a time or two, with laughter and smiles, Lucy clinging to Alura’s arm as they navigated the crowds.

The fair would be shutting down in an hour, the food carts had all closed up thirty minutes ago, Lucy snagging the last funnel cake from one for the two of them to split, powdered sugar somehow ending up on Alura’s nose.

Reaching out Lucy brushes it away gently, “Sugar,” she says when Alura tilts her head in question. The older woman smirks, “Not that kind, you dork,” Lucy says, pushing Alura’s shoulder lightly.

Leaning closer to Lucy while also drawing the younger woman towards her, Alura flicks her tongue over Lucy’s lips, catching the granules of powdered sugar there before drawing Lucy even closer to kiss her properly.

“Both,” Alura says when they pull away for air, “both kinds of sugar are good, especially together.” Lucy watches Alura, the older woman’s eyes still closed and a just been kissed look on her lips that makes Lucy pull her in all over again, the funnel cake forgotten beside them.

Slowly Alura draws away, her forehead resting on Lucy’s, “Perhaps you're right,” the younger woman says, her nose brushing against Alura’s.

Reluctantly Alura pulls completely away from Lucy, standing up and taking Lucy’s hand, “There's one more thing I have planned for us before we leave.”

Lucy smiles, tucking herself easily against Alura’s side, “Lead the way, Blue,” she says quietly, deciding that the name she'd originally known Alura by would remain because it truly fit the other woman.

Alura smiles at the name, scoops up their plate to throw away and steers the two of them back towards the rides. Lucy rests her head on Alura’s shoulder as the two of them make their way towards what Lucy is positive will be the Ferris wheel. When they stop in the line Lucy looks over to Alura, “You know I've never ridden the Ferris wheel?”

“Really?” Alura questions, “The most iconic ride here and you've never been on it?”

Lucy shakes her head, “I've always spent so much time on all the other rides and such that I've never really needed to experience this.” She glances at Alura, “I'm kinda glad cause now I can experience it with you.”

Smiling Alura wraps an arm around Lucy, “I'm glad I get to experience it with you too.”

When they make it to the front of the line it's to find that everyone else has had a turn, they're the last. Alura smiles at the man running the ride, “Hey, Brian,” he smiles back and gives her a wave. “Stop us at the top.”

He nods, “Of course, Ms. Alura, anything for you.”

Alura gives him a soft smile, “Thank you, Brian, and tell your mother hello.”

Lucy watches Alura as the older woman slides into the seat beside her, smiling softly at the interaction between the woman and Brian. “You know his family?” Lucy questions once the ride has begun moving.

“His mother visits the shop, she used to bring Brian along. He's a fondness for history books and sci-fi novels.”

Reaching out gently Lucy brushes a dark curl away from Alura’s eyes, “You love what you do at the bookstore, don't you?”

“I do,” Alura says quietly, grasping Lucy’s hand in her own, thumb brushing over the back of it. “And you?” Alura questions quietly, “Do you love working at Kryptonite?”

Lucy nods slightly, “I do. I never thought that I would, I actually fought Alex for a long time before I auditioned to work there. She got fifty bucks off me when I fell in love with the stage.”

Alura smiles, fingers brushing lightly through Lucy’s hair, “You look beautiful on the stage.”

The two fall quiet then, Lucy leaning into Alura’s side as the older woman wraps an arm lightly around her. Below them the lights of the fair are starting to turn off until all that remains are the Ferris wheel lights around them and the stars above. The two remain quiet, simply existing together in the moment until the Ferris wheel begins its descent.

“The last person I dated,” Lucy says quietly when they're almost to the bottom, “he wanted me to stop dancing.” She stops for a moment, “As much as I love dancing it isn't what I want to do forever, I'm doing it to pay my way through school. I graduate with my Bachelor’s in pre-law this May and then I'm planning on attending Harvard.”

The ride stops moving before Alura responds and Lucy flees the confined space as quickly as she can, leaving Brian with a smile and a wave. Alura runs up behind her, arms circling Lucy’s waist, lifting her into her arms and twirling them around. Lucy can't fight the laugh that slips past her lips. When Alura lowers Lucy back to the ground they're standing outside the fair gates, which are locked behind them and Alura turns Lucy to face her.

“I would not care if you chose to dance forever, Lucy, as long as you were doing something you loved I would be very proud of you. The fact that you found something that you love while trying to make your way through school, on your own I might add, just makes me all the more proud of you.”

MJY~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MJY

The ride back to Tattered Twin is full of stories and getting to know one another. They bond over a love of Law & Order: SVU before Cabot and Casey left and the fact they still enjoy reading young adult novels. When Alura pulls her car in beside Lucy’s, the younger woman looks over at the older.

She smiles slightly, looking up at Alura from under long eyelashes, “I had a wonderful time tonight,” she says quietly.

Alura reaches out, gently taking Lucy’s smaller hand into her own, “I did as well.” She draws the hand up, pressing her lips to the back of it. “I would love to do it again sometime.”

A bright smile curves across Lucy’s lips, “I would love nothing more than to do this again.” She tilts her head, “Perhaps this time you'll allow me to plan our date.”

“That could be agreed upon,” Alura says, “for a price,” she continues with a small smirk curving her lips.

“And what pray tell would that price be?”

“This,” Alura whispers before leaning forward, drawing Lucy into her, pressing their lips together. The kiss lasts for long moments until Lucy pulls back, her hand resting solidly against Alura’s breast bone, “I’m sor-”

“No,” Lucy says, other hand rising to press a finger against Alura’s lips, “just no. There is nothing to be sorry for but if we don’t stop,” she smirks, “if we don’t stop I’m not going to want us to stop.”

Alura smiles and gives a slight nod, “Nor I.” She leans forward once more, “One for the road though?”

Lucy smiles, already unable to deny the woman before her such an easy request. She leans into Alura, allowing their lips to meet. Alura sucks Lucy’s bottom lip slightly between her own and Lucy fights down a groan even as she pulls away.

“Good night,” she says as she opens the door and slips free of the car’s confines, traversing the space to her own car with only a few steps.

Alura’s quiet, “Good night,” still lingers in her ears as Lucy slides into the driver’s seat of her car, head falling back against the headrest. She digs into her pocket, pulling her phone free and typing out a quick message to Alex.

“ _ Best date ever! _ _ ” _

MJY~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MJY

Over the next two months Alura and Lucy have many more dates, each of them taking a chance and planning both romantic and outlandishly childlike dates. Each of them finding in turn that the other loves the ideas that they come up with. Today had been Lucy’s turn at date planning and she picked  Alura up from her apartment that morning at precisely six. Alura had grumbled her way into Lucy’s car after a midnight shift at Tattered Twin, curled as much as possible into the passenger seat and promptly fallen back to sleep. For a few long moments Lucy couldn’t move, simply staring at the woman in the passenger seat of her car.

Alura had come into her life like a whirlwind, one that Lucy wouldn’t change for anything. Reaching out Lucy gently brushes some of Alura’s dark locks away from her eyes and smiles when the older woman’s nose twitches. She knows how she wants tonight to end, though she’ll make no assumptions or push Aura for what she wants but she can hope. Slowly she pulls away from the curb, heading down the coast, smiling when Alura sleeps for the entirety of the two hour ride.

Slowing to a stop Lucy reaches over, fingers running lightly through Alura’s hair, gently drawing the other woman away from the land of sleep the the world of the awake. Finally Alura’s eyelids flutter open and she smiles up at Lucy, “Hi,” she says, voice scratchy with disuse.

“Hi,” Lucy says with a smile, leaning over to press her lips to Alura’s. “We’re here.”

Alura shuffles up in the seat, looking out of the window, drinking in her surroundings. She turns to Lucy, “The beach?”

Lucy smiles, “You said that is was one of your favorite places, I thought we could spend the day here. The Boardwalk is about a half mile that way,” she points towards their right, “and there's a pier about a mile that way,” she continues pointing towards their left. “I brought swimsuits, I had Kara pull it out for me.” Lucy knows she's rambling but she can't seem to stop herself, afraid she's messed things up.

Alura stops her rambling with the press of a set of soft lips against Lucy’s own, “This is the best thing anyone’s ever done for me.”

After a day spent splashing amongst the waves, laughing and frolicking together as if they were both still teenagers. The sun is starting to set when Alura and Lucy return to Lucy’s car, leaning against the passenger door, Alura pressing against Lucy. They share a few small kisses, foreheads resting against one another lightly. “I had the most amazing day,” Alura tells Lucy quietly.

They stay there for the longest time, Lucy’s hands holding tightly to Alura’s waist while Alura’s arms wrap around Lucy’s neck, “I spent it with you,” Lucy says with a small smile, “of course it was the best day.”

Alura brushes her thumbs lightly over the back of Lucy’s neck, causing the younger woman to hum in happiness and she leans forward to rest her forehead against Alura’s shoulder. “I don’t want it to end,” Lucy breathes quietly.

After a short pause Alura returns Lucy’s admission with a quiet, “It doesn’t have to,” of her own. Smiling Alura looks down at Lucy as the younger woman pulls back to look up at her as well, “Take me home, Tiger Lily,” she says quietly before leaning forward to bring their lips together.

MJY~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MJY

Lucy drives the back to Alura’s apartment, confident in what Alura had said earlier but also not wanting to either assume things or make Alura uncomfortable. The two of them sit silently inside the car for long moments when Lucy pulls up in front of the building then Alura turns Lucy, “Come up?”

Tilting her head Lucy asks quietly, “Are you sure?”

Reaching out Alura brushes some of Lucy’s hair away from her eyes, “I’m not saying anything has to happen if you come upstairs with me, Lucy. I’m not even saying you have to come up if you do not wish to. All I want is to spend a little more time with you, perhaps sleep beside you, if you’ll allow it.”

Smiling Lucy covers Alura’s hand against her cheek with her own, “I would love nothing more,” she says quietly. She flips the key in the ignition, turning the car off and then the two of them climb from the vehicle and head into the building. Lucy takes Alura’s hand into her own and laces their fingers together, “Lead the way, Blue.”

Alura leans forward, pressing her lips against Lucy’s gently, “Of course, my Tiger Lily.”

The two of them head upstairs silently in the elevator, standing beside one another with smiles toying at the corners of their lips. Lucy’s thumb traces light patterns across the back of Alura’s hand and the older woman leans heavily into Lucy’s side. When the elevator comes to a halt Alura lifts Lucy’s hand, tugging gently as a means to urge the younger woman to move forward. Outside of her apartment Alura pauses, slipping the key into the lock before turning to Lucy, leaning forward to kiss the younger woman.

Lucy smiles when Alura pulls away, “I love you,” she says quietly. For the first time it doesn't feel like some grand gesture or something that's been pressured to tumble from her lips and it makes her smile.

Alura returns the smile with one of her own, “I love you too.” She reaches behind her, turning the key and the doorknob together and walking into her apartment backwards, tugging Lucy along. Once the apartment door is shut and locked Alura turns to Lucy, “Do you want to watch a movie?”

Moving towards Alura, Lucy leans forward, “Not particularly.” She covers Alura’s lips with her own, “Unless you do, of course,” she continues, drawing back, chin resting on Alura’s collarbone.

Alura’s eyes have darkened with the kiss but she nods, “Perhaps to start with, yes.” Face turning slightly pink with the admission.

“Hey,” Lucy says quietly, tilting Alura’s head up, “that is a perfectly valid request.”

“I just haven't-I don't-”

Lucy smiles at Alura, eyes full of something Alura hasn’t seen in a lover’s eyes in a very long time, “Nothing has to happen, Alura, nothing. There's no expectation here. As long as I’m with you, that's all I care about.”

Alura smiles then, just slightly and gives a small nod, “So a movie?”

Lucy returns the nod, “A movie,” she agrees and steps back so that Alura can lead them further into the apartment. Further inside Alura’s living room, Lucy smiles at the sight of pictures of her best friends adorning the walls. Every time she comes to Alura’s home she is reminded that Alura is Kara’s mother, it should send her running but instead it makes her unimaginably happy, makes her fall a little more in love. And she has certainly realized that she’s falling in love with Alura, falling hard and fast and it gives her the best feeling.

The thoughts running rampant through Lucy’s mind are cut off by the sight of Alura watching her, the older woman’s head tilted in question over something she’s just said. “I’m sorry,” Lucy says, “I missed that.”

Alura chuckles, stepping forward, arms circling Lucy’s neck where the smaller woman has somehow managed to find herself motionless in the middle of the living room. “I asked if you wanted to choose a movie from the shelf or if you’d like to watch Netflix.”

Lucy smiles, “Your choice,” she says quietly, hands resting on Alura’s waist, “I’m happy with whatever.”

“Netflix it is.”

Smiling Lucy finds herself being pulled towards Alura’s big comfortable couch and shoved down onto it lightly. She chuckles slightly at the almost giddy way Alura moves around her home. When the older woman returns to the couch, remote in hand, she settles beside Lucy and then curls into the other woman’s side, head resting on Lucy’s shoulder and Lucy’s arm falling around her waist. Lucy presses a kiss to Alura’s temple as the loading screen for Netflix appears on the tv screen, humming into the dark locks under her lips.

“This is perfect,” she says quietly. “Just perfect.”

Alura looks up at her, “You’re not disappointed?” she questions, looking away again.

“Never,” Lucy says quietly.

“But we’ve been together a while, and I know by now we should probably be ready for that -”

“Stop,” Lucy says, turning Alura’s head so that their eyes meet. “When you are ready is when we’ll take that step, not before. You mean a lot to me, Alura, nothing is going to change that. You’re important, your feelings are important. I’ll be here when you’re ready, I promise.”

Alura smiles at Lucy and then silently tucks herself back into the younger woman’s side, flipping idly through their options on Netflix.

MJY~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MJY

The sound of someone pounding on her door snatches Alura from the quiet recesses of sleep. A quick glance to her side shows Lucy snuggled into her, still sleeping peacefully. With a smile she slips from the bed, knowing already who is at her door and that the barrier will not keep the person at bay for long. Outside of her room she pulls the door shut, moving quickly towards the front door, shaking her head when it opens before she can reach it.

“Wake up!” a happy voice sing songs as the door to the apartment is thrown open by a near carbon copy of Alura.

“Really, Astra,” Alura says teasingly, “must you always be like this?”

Astra smiles as she places a box of donuts on the kitchen island, “You love that I’m like this, Alura,” she tells her sister. “So what’s our plan for today?”

“Our plan?” Alura questions, eyes flicking quickly to her closed bedroom door and then away just as quickly.

“Yes, our plan,” Astra says, helping herself to a mug of already made coffee and flipping the box of donuts open, selecting a chocolate and sprinkle covered one. “Cat has taken Carter to the museum today so that they can have a bonding day. So that leaves me to find something to do and since you, my darling sister, rarely ever have plans anymore I thought the two of us could do something.”

Alura moves into the kitchen, making her own mug of coffee and taking a sour cream donut from the box on the island, “And what are you going to do since I do happen to have plans today?”

“What?” Astra questions, face taking on a stricken expression, “But you-you never have plans.”

“Well today I do, big sister,” Alura says with a smirk. “So I’d appreciate if you’d finish your coffee and your donut and head out.”

Astra is about to respond, shocked by her sister’s words when the door to the bedroom opens, “Alura -” Lucy stops speaking as soon as she sees the woman seated at the kitchen island. She pulls the t-shirt that barely reaches mid thigh a little lower. “I’m sorry,” she says, “I’ll just-” she motions behind her and then slips back into the bedroom.

After Lucy has disappeared back into the bedroom, Alura looking after her the entire time, the two sisters look to one another. Astra raises a silently questioning eyebrow. Alura turns away, moving to retrieve things from the fridge to begin preparing breakfast for herself and Lucy, “Alura,” Astra says. The younger of the two sisters remains turned away, steadfastly ignoring her older sister. Astra slips up behind her sister, hand resting on the other woman’s shoulder, “Alura?”

Turning around with care Alura leans back against the door of the fridge as she shuts it, “What is it, Astra?”

Astra glances towards the bedroom door and then looks back to her sister, “Who was that?”

Sighing quietly Alura eventually gives in and lets her grin slip seamlessly onto her lips, “That would be Lucy.”

“And who is Lucy?” Astra questions, grinning at the look on her sister’s face, it's a look that she knows she hasn’t seen in a very long time.

“Lucy,” Alura says, finally allowing herself to freely answer her sister’s questions, “is my girlfriend. We’ve been seeing each other for about two months now.” She tilts her head, “She works at Pink Kryptonite.”

Astra tilts her head then, “Well Kara did mention that you’d been spending an awful lot of time there lately, though she didn’t, or now I’m going to say wouldn’t, tell me why.” Astra tilts Alura’s head back, a single finger on the younger woman’s chin, “Are you happy, Luna?”

Alura nods, “So very happy, Astra.”

Astra nods, “Alright then,” she tilts Alura’s head forward, pressing her lips against her younger sister’s forehead. “Have a good day with your girl, baby sister. I love you.”

Smiling up Astra, Alura presses a kiss to her sister’s cheek, “I love you too.”

Remaining with her back pressed against the fridge Alura watches her sister leave the apartment before she turns, moving towards the bedroom and making her way inside. “I am so sorry,” Lucy says instantly the minute that Alura has made it fully into the room.

Alura presses a finger against Lucy’s lips, “You’ve nothing to be sorry for.”

“I hope I didn’t interrupt.”

“No, that role belongs entirely to my sister.” Alura wraps her arms loosely around Lucy’s waist, “Lets not talk about her though, instead I’d rather the two of us get ready and spend the day together.”

Lucy tilts her head, “What did you have in mind?”

Alura smiles, “Whatever you’d like.”

Leaning up Lucy presses her lips to Alura’s, “Then I’d say the best thing for us to do is to crawl back into bed and cuddle for a while.”

Smiling even wider Alura begins walking backwards towards the bed and pulling Lucy with her, “I believe that can be arranged,” she says, dropping down onto the bed and pulling Lucy down with her.

MJY~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MJY

Lucy rests her chin on Alex’s shoulder as she stops off at her friend’s station backstage, “Heading home?”

Alex nods, “Yeah, Kara is waiting on me. Whenever I have to work and she doesn’t, she always waits up even though I always tell her not to.”

“She can’t sleep without you,” Lucy says, “just like you can’t whenever she has to work late and you don’t.”

“Oh shut up.”

Lucy shakes her head, “No, don’t believe I will.”

“Hey, Baby Cakes!” Casey calls from near the stage. Lucy looks up to the petite red headed stage manager, “You got a private one.”

Nodding Lucy straightens up and then reaches over to Alex’s rack of clothes, grabbing a short dress that is missing most of the middle, “Can I borrow this?” she questions, stripping out of her clothes without a thought and tossing the dress on over the nearly see through g-string and matching strapless bra combo.

“Sure, Luce,” Alex says, “of course you can borrow it.”

Lucy pushes Alex, “Shut up, I think my client is gonna like it.”

“Oh, you know who is waiting for you then?”

Lucy hums, “Let’s just say I saw a familiar hat in the crowd.”

Alex laughs, pushing Lucy towards the door as she stands, “Go see your girl, Baby Cakes, I’m going home to see my own.”

Chuckling Lucy nearly stumbles her way out from backstage, “Have a good night, Agent.”

“You too,” Alex calls behind her as she heads for the back door and the opposite direction of Lucy.

“Room three,” Casey tells Lucy as she slips towards the private rooms. When she reaches the room Casey indicated Lucy knocks lightly before she slips inside, a system that has always been in place, allowing for a client to change their minds at the last minute should they so choose.

Stepping into the room Lucy smiles at the sight of her girlfriend in the chair sitting alone in the middle of the room, “Hey, stranger,” Lucy says, back pressing against the door and taking in the familiar sight of Blue in her hat, the brim tilted down over her eyes. Except when the woman in the chair reaches up to remove her hat Lucy finds that it isn’t Alura sitting before her. “Astra?”

Astra tilts her head, “So you know my name then?”

Lucy crosses her arms, feeling far underdressed in the dress she’d stolen from Alex’s dress rack, “I do.” She tilts her head, “Alura and I talked about you a great deal after the other morning.”

“But not before?”

“No, mostly we talked about ourselves before. I knew that she had a sister but not much more than that.”

Astra nods, “I wanted to speak with you.” She leans forward, elbows resting on her knees after she drops her hat on the floor between her feet, “Has Alura told you anything of her past?”

Slowly Lucy shakes her head, pushing herself off of the door and stepping forward slightly, arms crossed over her chest, “Not a lot, no.”

“My sister has been hurt a lot in the past,” Astra tilts her head, watching the younger woman before her, “I won’t take well to seeing her hurt again.”

Lucy shakes her head, “I would never hurt her, not intentionally.”

Astra nods, clearly able to see the truth of Lucy’s words in the younger woman’s eyes. She stands up, moving forward to hold a hand out to Lucy, “That is all that I can ask for.”

Before Lucy can respond or reach out to grasp Astra’s hand the door behind her opens and hits her in the back, Lucy just close enough to get caught by the force of it. As Lucy slams forward Astra reaches out, catching the younger woman just barely from landing on the floor. “Astra In-Ze Grant,” Cat’s voice growls, fire in the small woman’s eyes as she stares at the scene before her. Lucy is held up by Astra’s arms, the feel of them familiar but also so very foreign as she tries to right herself. Cat glares at her wife, then shakes her head, “I thought we were past this,” is all she says and then turns away, nearly barreling into Alura as she storms off down the hall. “Don’t bother coming home tonight, you won’t be welcomed.”

Lucy finally manages to find her footing, turning to the door in time to see Alura watching them with eyes filled with pain. “I thought you were different,” she says simply and then hurries away down the hallway.

Astra starts to follow after one of them, Lucy is unsure of which one, “I wouldn’t,” Lucy says as she grabs her wrist, “they’re both very pissed and very hurt, give them time.”

The older woman sighs, sagging slightly, “Volatile women,” she murmurs and then shakes her head. “How do I always end up with such trouble?”

“Just lucky, I guess,” Lucy says with an attempt at humor but even Astra, who doesn’t know her that well can tell it’s fake. She shakes her head, “I’m going out and beg sick for the night. Hopefully the next time I see you it goes better than this.”

Astra nods, “Hopefully,” she says sullenly.

MJY~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MJY

Lucy tries to call Alura the next day, hoping that having given the other woman a little while to calm down will be in her favor. When her tenth call of the day goes unanswered just as she is about to begin her shift at work Lucy sighs and accepts that she is definitely not going to get back into Alura’s good graces anytime soon.

Still she continues to attempt to make contact with Alura, phone calls and text messages continue to go unanswered however, even six days later. Lucy tries stopping by Tattered Twin and finds several of the girls that work there glaring at her and assuring her that Alura isn’t there and won’t be in for the rest of the day. When this happens for the second time, Alura’s car parked prominently in the parking lot Lucy only nods. “Can you-” she shakes her head, “Can you just tell her I’m sorry and I want to talk to her?”

Another five days pass and Lucy still hasn’t heard from Alura. That Sunday morning finds Lucy letting herself into Pink Kryptonite, all of the dancers having permission to use the stages for practice any time they’d like. Considering it’s a Sunday morning, well before eight and most of the girl were dancing the night before Lucy isn’t surprised to find the stages empty. Moving over to one of the smaller stages Lucy sets up her own cd player on the side of the stage, tossing her windbreaker onto a chair and leaving her standing in nothing but a sports bra and shorts as she turns it on.

She moves forward, laying down on the stage, one arm stretched out above her head as she lays on her side, facing the pole. Today isn’t about a workout or even practice, today is about excising the emotions running rampant in her body. As the music begins she pushes herself up from the floor, reaching out for the pole, hand grasping it as she rolls her body into a standing position and uses the other arm to reach above her head as the first lines of “Say Something” begin to play.

She grasps the pole in both hands, pulling herself up and spinning around, lifting her feet further from the floor, pulling her knees up until they’re almost resting against the cold metal supporting her. Slowly she spins herself back down to the floor, ending with her feet on the floor, her elbow crooked around the pole and her back bent so that she’s looking behind her out towards the empty bar, one arm stretching out as if to reach for someone not there before she pulls in back in towards her body to run down her chest. She reaching up high over her head with one hand, the other a few inches below it, as she grasps the pole and pulls herself into a spin, wrapping her feet around the pole, ankles crossed as she uses them to climb higher up the pole until she’s near the top. She olds on with one hand as she extends one leg down the pole, the other knee bending back around the pole as she grasps it’s ankle with one hand and extends the other towards the floor, her back arching as she spins slowly round the pole. Until she pulls herself back up, both knees hooked around the pole as she takes up a spinning fetal position. Before extending her arms and then her body, lowering herself back to the ground until she spins into a crouch and then lays down on the ground, one knee bent before she pushes herself over onto her stomach. She does a forward flip, nothing that gives her any lfit from the ground really but leaves her lying flat on her back, until she arches her back, her knees bent into small mountains above the floor. She moves into a sitting position, grasping the pole and using it to lift herself to her feet, spinning round it as she moves to a full standing position, one leg extended behind her slightly. She spins around once, then twice before lifting herself up, her back arching around the pole as she spins backwards round it, knees bent at ninety degree angles. Before she extends her legs, them and a firm grip on the pole the only things keeping her from the floor before she does a slightly stumbling move that leads her into a split, one arm extended high above her head. Doing to turns over the floor, ending up on her hands and knees before she turns to look back at the empty audience, preparing to crawl back towards the pole.

Except the audience isn’t empty. Lucy freezes, eyes locked with the ones she’s come to know so well and she pushes herself back onto her knees as she song continues only. She watches, wordlessly as the woman who had watched her for she isn’t sure how long makes her way to the edge of the stage and then up onto it. Alura moves across the stage, her steps only slightly unsure as she moves to stop before Lucy, one hand extending towards the younger woman who eagerly slips her own into Alura’s.  “Do you trust me?” Alura whispers.

“With everything that I am,” Lucy replies just as quietly, smiling slightly with her reply.

Alura nods, leading them down from the stage and back towards one of the private rooms, “I think we should talk,” she says quietly.

Lucy nods, “So we should.” Once inside the room Lucy expects Alura to begin speaking, what she isn’t expecting is for Alura to reach out, hand cupping Lucy’s cheek and pulling her into a bruising kiss, “Alura?”

“Astra came to see me last night,” Alura says, her forehead pressed to Lucy’s. “I know you’ve been coming by every day but I thought and I feel horrible for not believing in you, Lucy, absolutely horrible. You don’t -”

This time Lucy cuts Alura’s words off with her lips, “Alura, stops. I know,” she says quietly. “I know what happened with Kara’s father, how he hurt you. I can only imagine seeing Astra and I like that, well it brought back those memories.” Lucy traces Alura’s cheeks with her thumbs, “But, Alura, I’m never going to hurt you, not if I can keep from it.” She brushes softly over pale cheeks, “I love you.”

A smile curls Alura’s lips, she pulls Lucy even closer to her, “And I love you, Lucinda.”

 

MJY~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MJY

Alura is leading the way out of the back, planning to grab Lucy’s cd player on their way out to the car. Lucy’s fingers are laced with her own and the feel of her girlfriend’s warm palm pressed against her own sends even more warmth traveling through Alura. She’s missed the younger woman in the close to two weeks they’ve been apart. The two of them are giggling over something when Alura stops them abruptly in the entrance to the back hallway, eyes taking in the sight before her.

The older woman knows that at least one of the two of them should have heard the music before they made it this far, after all it’s loud enough to hear all the way to the back office. She smiles at the sight taking up the main stage. “Every time they fight,” she says just loud enough to be heard over the music, hoping her voice won’t care to the lone person in the audience, “Astra comes here on the weekend, when she knows that Cat will be working while its quiet and dances for her. This one is even more special than usual, that’s their song,” she says when she sees Lucy’s raised eyebrow.

She watches as her sister grasps the pole, lifting herself off the ground, legs spread in a v as she spins, until she straightens them out behind her and then draws them up to her chest while continuing to spin circles around the pole. “Astra is a shameless flirt,” Alura says, “she always has been. But no matter what she will forever make her way back to Chessie.”

The two of them watch a moment more until Astra has lifted herself up, turning upside down, legs locked at the ankles around the pole as she spins. “Perhaps we should leave them,” Lucy says quietly. “I can get the cd player later.”

Alura nods, “Perhaps we should,” she says and allows Lucy to turn around and lead her the other way, slipping backstage and the out the back entrance to the club. She smiles when they’re outside. “Where do you want to go?”

Lucy smiles, “Anywhere,” she says quietly, “as long as I’m with you.” She glances down at herself, “Though maybe we should stop by my place and pick me up some clothes.” She chuckles, “My shirt was with my cd player.”

Alura runs a light touch over Lucy’s collarbone, “I don’t know, I’m finding I quite like this look on you, Tiger Lily.” She tilts her head, “Perhaps less clothes is the better answer instead of more.”

Lucy feels her mouth go dry at the thought, leaning forward to press her lips against Alura, “Perhaps something could be arranged,” she says with a smile as she pulls back. She leans into Alura, “Take me home, Blue.”

“With pleasure,” Alura says, arms curling around Lucy as she leads her towards the car, “we’ll pick your car up later.”

“Sounds good to me,” Lucy says, smiling when Alura opens the door to the car for her and she slides inside.

MJY~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MJY

Lucy drops the last of the boxes on the pile in the middle of the living room floor, “That’s the last one,” she says with a soft huff. Arms curl around her waist and she leans back into the body there before she pulls away just as quickly, “Astra,” she growls playfully, “you’re wife is gonna kill me one day if you don’t stop.”

Cat’s laughter follows the statement and Lucy glances to the kitchen doorway to see the petite blonde with a hand resting on her barely visible baby bump, “I’ve gotten used to the way the two of you are, Baby Cakes.”

“Aunt Cat, you know Aunt Astra loves you.”

“I do,” Cat says with a smile. Astra moves to her wife, her own hand sliding over her wife’s and their growing child.

At that moment a toddler comes running through the living room, dodging the stack of boxes and colliding with Astra’s legs, “Mama, save me,” he cries, clinging to Astra’s pants legs as he wiggles between his mothers.

“Save you from what, darling?” Astra asks, lifting the boy into her arms.

“Lexie,” he says, pointing down the hallway towards the bedrooms, one of which he’d been napping in.

Alex appears in the doorway, fingers crooked like claws, “The tickle monster got him when he snuck up behind me as I was dropping the last of Lucy’s clothes in the bedroom.”

Astra laughs, “You mean, like this,” she says while beginning to tickle her son, the little boy’s squealing laughter filling the room around them and making the adults join in.

“What are you doing to my nephew?” Alura asks, as she moves up behind Lucy, arms wrapping around her girlfriend’s waist. “You know he hates it when you tickle him like that.”

“Yeah, Mama,” Carter says seriously to his mother once he’s sitting happily on her crossed arms, his own tiny arms crossed over his chest.

Smiling Astra rests her forehead against his, “I’m sorry, baby.”

“‘Sokay,” he says seriously before snuggling against Astra’s chest.

“Is that all your crap, Lane?” Alex asks from the hallway.

“Finally, yeah,” Lucy says as she leans back more fully against Alura. “Now Alura and I just have to figure out where we’re going to put everything.”

“Another time,” Kara says as she bounces into the room, a stack of magazines in her hands, “now it’s time to look at bridesmaid dresses.”

“No,” Lucy says, “I already told Alex I’m wearing a tux like her. I thought Lena was gonna be your bridesmaid.”

“She is,” Kara says, referring to a new girl they’ve just hired at the club who has instantly been taken into their group. “But I want your guys opinions too.”

Lucy sighs, “Fine, call the rest and get them over here, if we’re gonna plan a wedding we might as well get everyone involved from the start.”

Laughing Kara launches herself into Lucy’s arms, “Awww you do love me.”

“You knew that already, blondie,” Lucy says, ruffling Kara’s blonde curls. “Go make your phone calls while I shove the rest of the boxes into a corner.”

Kara nods and rushes towards the kitchen, Alex, Cat, and Astra with Carter following behind her. “Are you sure you’re ready for this?”

Lucy turns around, arms curling around Alura’s neck, “As long as I’m with you,” she says quietly, “I’m ready for anything.”

Alura smiles, leaning down to kiss Lucy, “I love you.”

“And I love you,” Lucy says, laughing when the sound of fake gagging reaches their ears and they look to the doorway to see Kara there grinning at them.

**Author's Note:**

> [ Lucy's dance to Say Something](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BK6YIgWg6Zo)   
>  [ Astra's dance after she and Cat fight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9V1Nlgiq84)   
>  [ Closer by Kings of Leon dance ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZJIgq3ZAik)   
>  [ Astra's car](https://www.cars.com/research/lamborghini-aventador-2016/)   
>  [ Alura's car](http://www.lexus.com/models/NX-hybrid?&bknode=nx&pdsrch=sem_google_lexus%20nx%20hybrid_e_145681337889&gclid=CIGq68j8g9ACFVIngQod6kQKhA&gclsrc=ds)


End file.
